(*Joker walks in to see My Purple Skies working on the sequel. But what is this? Someone is sitting beside her as she types.* "Uh… what is that?" *Both girls look up.* Me= "Um, that is a girl, moron." "I know what it is! Who is she?" "This is Darkschik and she's here to make sure you stop bothering me while I work on my story." *Darkschik waves at Joker* "Yo." *Joker grins* "Yea! Another person for me to annoy!" *Darkschik frowns and looks at My Purple Skies.* "What did you get me into?" *My Purple Skies clears throat*)

Uh, on a side note; I have to say that if it wasn't for The Joker Blogs and Scott McClure, this sequel never would have come into existence. I had gotten into a bit of a writer's block back in early 2009 when I first started writing this. Then I found The Joker Blogs on YouTube and it inspired me with new ideas! So, I'm gonna go ahead and state that: Yes, some of these ideas were inspired by TJB and there will be a few quotes or moments that closely resemble TJB moments, but I do not take credit for those. I give the credit to Scott McClure and his brilliant writing and acting abilities. Hey, if any of my readers can spot those TJB moments, tell me in your review or send me a message, I'll give ya a shout out.

Also, I finally found the woman I would want to have play as Samantha Reads if this were a movie, and I think Yvonne Strahovski would be a perfect Samantha, but picture her with green eyes. I have a link to a picture of her on my profile in case you have no idea who I'm talking about. I'll also be posting pictures of who I imagine playing the other characters. Also, just a suggestion, listen to 'Unwell' by Matchbox Twenty during Harleen's first session with the Joker. I don't know why, but that song kept playing in my head while I wrote it. So, without further stalling, I present the first chapter of 'Love & Chaos'.

Chapter One

"Harleen Quinzel? I'm Joan Leeland," a middle-aged woman in a white doctor's coat and short black hair said. She extended her arm to shake Harleen's hand and Harleen returned the gesture.

"Hi, Joan, call me Harley, everyone does," she replied with a bright smile.

She and Joan began to walk down the halls that were lined with patients' rooms. The inhabitants looked at them through their glass walls that also served as a door. After awhile Joan spoke.

"I must admit, I was surprised you wanted to intern here at Arkham."

Harleen shrugged. "Well, I've always had an attraction for extreme personalities."

She glanced at the cell to her left to see a strikingly, beautiful, young woman with fiery red hair, placing a potted plant on a shelf. The woman met her stare with contempt in her green eyes before looking away. Harley couldn't help but think of her dear friend Samantha's green eyes when she saw them. She quickly got back on the subject of her conversation.

"They're more exciting, more challenging."

"And more high profile?"

"You can't deny there's an element of glamour to these super criminals," Harleen admitted.

Joan stopped and faced Harleen. "I'll warn you right now," she said sternly, "these are hard core psychotics. If you're thinking about cashing in on them by writing a tell-all book, think again."

Harleen's attention was caught by someone whistling. She looked ahead at the far end of the hall. She was shocked to see the Joker leaning against the glass wall of his cell, eyes closed and whistling like he had not a care in the world.

Harleen walked over to his cell and stopped. She couldn't believe she was this close to him.

She stared at the Joker, taking in every detail. His face was covered in the clown paint. That made Harleen wrinkle her brow in confusion. She moved past that little detail and nearly gasped when he cracked an eyelid open and silenced his whistling.

His brown eye fell upon her and he opened both eyes. The Joker gave a grin and winked.

Harleen nearly jumped out of her skin when Joan walked up behind her and said, "They'd eat a novelist like you for breakfast."

Harleen smiled shyly and lifted a hand to cover the blush that was coloring her cheeks pink as she looked over her shoulder at Joan.

She made her way back to her and cast a backward glance at the Joker. "Why does he still have on his make-up?" she asked.

"We don't know where he's getting it. We've tried everything possible to keep his face clean but he always finds a way to cover it up again, so we just quit."

"Hmm…"

It took the rest of the day for Joan to be shown around Arkham. As soon as Joan finished giving Harleen a tour of the asylum, Harley went to her new office.

The lights were off and moonlight softly filtered through the window's blinds and splashed along the floor. Harleen set her briefcase down next to the door when her light blue eyes caught sight of something on her desk. She stepped over and saw a small, white porcelain vase with a single purple rose bud inside.

A card was tied to the vase which read; "Come and see me any time. –J."

Harleen's heart thudded.

"J!" she whispered.

"The Joker? How did he get out of his cell? Is he still lose? Did they put him back," she wondered.

Harleen took a calming breath and exhaled. She could answer all her questions just by going to his cell and seeing for herself. Yeah, that's what she would do.

Harleen took a step away from her desk and paused. If she did find him in his cell, she'd have to confront him, and she'd be breaking her promise to Samantha.

Harleen thought back to the conversation that had taken place only four days ago.

She had been jogging in the park on the way to Gotham's gym to do some gymnastics when she came across Samantha Reads on her jog route.

"What's cookin', good lookin'?"

The blond-haired woman turned around and her face broke into a grin when she recognized her friend, Harleen. "Hi, Harley," she greeted.

Harley slowed her pace when she came up next to Samantha. "Hi-ya, Sammy, how's it going?"

"It's alright, I guess. I haven't had to dodge the reporters as much lately," Samantha told her, referring to her involvement in last week's incident with the Joker and his antics.

The reporters had hounded Samantha, trying to get a story from her about being a hostage of the Joker. More specifically, being the only hostage the Joker had taken with him, alone, to one of the top floors of the Prewitt Building.

Samantha sighed and fiddled with the draw strings of her white hoodie. "So, how's it going with you?" she asked.

"My internship at Arkham starts in a few days. I can't wait to begin doing my research!" Harley squealed.

Samantha cocked an eyebrow. "Where was that enthusiasm in high school?" she joked.

Harleen giggled. "I'm serious, Sammy."

"Well then, you might want to try toning it down with the accent, honey."

Harley gave a fake pout. She had been trying hard to sound professional for the job and hiding her unprofessionally thick Brooklyn accent.

Samantha let out a quiet laugh and they walked over to a park bench. "Who will you be researching?"

"Oh, the costumed wackos, they're so interesting."

"Harley… Please do not try to have the Joker as your patient. Please."

"Oh calm down, Sammy."

Samantha suddenly grabbed Harley tightly by the arms. "Listen to me; I am terrified of this man! I haven't been able to walk out the door without looking over my shoulder to see if he's there! I saw him do things without hesitation that other criminals with a shred of mercy in them would hesitate at! I can't begin to think of what he'd do to you!"

Harleen was in silent shock at Samantha's words. She released Harleen and sat down on the bench. She put her head in her hands and sighed deeply.

"I'm sorry, Harley," she apologized.

Harley sat next to Samantha and put an arm around her shoulders.

"I keep hearing his voice, seeing him…feeling him," Samantha murmured the last part in a breathless whisper. "I'm always afraid that he'll escape." She turned to look at her friend. "Stay away from him," she warned.

"The Joker's in Arkham now. Dr. Arkham himself assured me that it's very secure, you're safe from him," Harley assured Samantha.

"But he's a genius. He may be painted like a clown but, Harley; you have no idea how intelligent the guy can be. I've seen it."

Harleen hesitated to ask, but the question had been nagging her ever since Samantha had been rescued by the S.W.A.T team at the Prewitt Building.

"What did he do to you?"

She braced herself for Samantha to tell her something horrible, something personal; like he had raped her or something, but instead…..

"Nothing. He didn't beat me, rape me, cut me, or any of that stuff. I saw him kill people like it was as normal as blinking, but with me…Sure, he was rough when he handled me and he threatened me several times, but… It's just…him. He's evil. That's all he is."

Harleen didn't know what to think. If the Joker had done nothing to her, how evil was he to make Samantha this terrified? What had she seen?

Harleen's mind came back to the present as she stood there, staring at the purple rose.

In a way, she felt as though she had broken her promise just by staring at him that morning. There was something oddly familiar about him. That smile… that wink. So familiar….

Harleen took off her glasses and picked up the rose. She inhaled its aroma and smiled. Her cell phone buzzed inside her coat pocket.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Harley."

"Hi-ya, Sammy!"

"So how was your first day at the asylum?"

"I saw the Joker," Harley blurted. She inwardly groaned. "Great, Harl," she told herself. Harley hastened to explain it better. "I didn't speak to him or anything. I had to pass by his cell and he winked at me."

"He winked at you?"

"Yeah, ya know there's something familiar about him, Sammy, like we met before or something."

There was silence from Samantha. After six seconds, she finally spoke. "Harley, stay away from him."

Harleen wondered if she should mention the rose.

"No, it will only upset her even more."

She gently placed the flower back in its delicate vase.

"I will, Samantha."

They got off the phone seven minutes later and Harley glanced at the rose. She decided to go back to the cell and confront the Joker. She grabbed the card and headed out the door.

"Only this once," she told herself.

…

She found the Joker in his cell, lying in bed with his hands behind his head.

Harleen strode determinedly up to his cell's glass wall and held up the card between her thumb and index finger. "Care to tell me how this got in my office?" she asked.

The Joker opened his eyes and grinned. "I put it there," he said simply.

Harleen folded her arms and frowned. "I think the guards would be interested to know you've been out of your cell."

"If you really were going to tell, you already would've." He shot out of bed and jumped onto the small table that was part of the sparse furniture in his cell, and placed his hands on the glass wall separating them. "Ya know sweets, I've liked what I've heard about you, especially the name; Har-ley Quin-zel. Rework it a bit and you get Harley Quinn," he said, his face still grinning.

Harleen put the card inside her coat pocket. "Like the clown character; Harlequin. I know, I've heard it before," she said in a dull tone. All through high school people had told her that.

"It's a name that puts a smile on my face." He pointed to his scars. "Can't ya tell?" he snickered.

There was silence between them.

Harley looked into the Joker's eyes and was startled to find that they resembled a puppy dog's brown eyes. She turned and began to walk away before he noticed her staring.

She hadn't gone far when the Joker's voice called out to her.

"It makes me feel there's someone here that I can relate to, someone who might like to hear my secretsss."

Harleen froze.

Had she heard him right? This is what she had wanted!

She smiled. When she turned back around, no hint of a smile was on her face.

"Really?" she asked, suspiciously.

He raised an eyebrow and gave her a charming grin. Again, Harleen felt as though she had met him before.

"I'll keep that in mind," she replied and walked away, not hearing the low chuckle the Joker let escape when she was out of sight.

….

Harleen was able to get permission from Dr. Arkham himself that she could have the Joker as her patient and was told that she could start her sessions in three months. She came out of the building carrying copies of reports on the Joker. By the time she would have her first session with him, she'd be prepared for anything he'd dish out.

Her red cell phone chirped and she looked at the caller I.D. to see it was Samantha.

"Hi-ya, Sammy."

"Harleen! I've been asked out!"

"By who?"

"Meet me at The Green Willows restaurant and I'll tell you all about it."

…

They were seated at a booth by the windows and ordered the soup of the day when Samantha finally told her the name of the man.

"His name is Edward Nigma."

"Doesn't sound familiar."

"Well…he's kinda known. He's in the newspaper."

Harleen gasped and she gripped the edge of the table as she leaned forward. "Sammy, you're dating a reporter?" she gasped in excitement.

"No."

"No?"

"He's the crossword puzzle designer."

Harleen was quiet for a few seconds. "… Really?"

"I know it's not the most impressive job in the world, but he enjoys it and he's good at it. He's also in to riddles, and he's smart and funny, and good mannered and..." Samantha trailed off when she saw the mischievous grin on Harley's face.

"Mh-hmmm. How did you meet him?"

"I was working on the crossword puzzle in the newspaper while waiting for the bus at the bus stop. I got stuck on this one clue and he leaned over and told me the answer. It was such an off the wall answer, I asked him how he knew and he laughed and said, 'Because I made it.'"

Samantha felt a grin tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Harleen lifted an eyebrow and let out a breathless laugh. "Wow…Haven't seen one of those in a while," she said.

"Seen what?"

Harleen pointed at Samantha's face, a teasing smile on her face. "A 'Crush Smile' on your face," Harleen explained.

Samantha hid her face by turning to look away.

"Is he cute?"

"Adorably handsome," she admitted.

Harley gave a dramatic dreamy sigh. "Those are the best kinds."

They both giggled until the waiter brought their orders and left.

"Well, you deserve to have a nice date…you know, considering what you've been through recently."

It grew very quiet.

"Please don't mention him again," Samantha asked.

"My lips are sealed." Harleen mimed zipping her lips. "So, when's the date?" she asked later on.

"Tonight."

"Then what are ya doing here and talking to me for? Go home, get dolled up!"

…

Samantha stood in front of her full length mirror in her room, trying to decide which dress to wear. She held up a purple dress and studied her reflection. Suddenly her mind flashed back to Bruce Wayne's party when she was in the elevator with the Joker.

"By the way, I like the dress. It's a great color for you. I should know."

She shivered and threw the dress on to her bed. Samantha finally settled on a nice blue dress that she hadn't worn in a while.

…

He was waiting for her at Café de Bleu and was extremely nervous. He constantly ran his fingers through his red hair and his golden brown eyes kept darting up to look at the door.

He was tall and very slim, scrawny in a sense, but not to the point of being unattractive. He had a handsome geek-like look to him.

Edward drummed his fingers on the table and took a deep breath.

"I shouldn't be doing this. This is ridiculous."

But Samantha had been so intriguing; he couldn't just leave her at that bus stop without seeing her again.

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts about her, he didn't even notice Samantha come in and walk to his table.

"Hi," she greeted.

Edward's head snapped up to look at her. He leapt to his feet, banging his knees against the table in the process.

"Hello- Ouch!"

He immediately dropped back in his seat, holding his right knee in pain and grimacing.

"Oh brilliant thing to do," he scolded himself.

"Oh! Are you okay?" Samantha asked with a mixture of amusement and concern.

Edward laughed at his own clumsiness and stood back up. "I'm fine. I just half expected you to not show up," he explained.

Geez, she was even more beautiful than he remembered.

He gestured towards the seat opposite of him and nervously ran a hand through his hair.

"I had to pay you back for your helping me with the crossword puzzle."

"Thanks."

There was an awkward silence.

"Sooo," Samantha began, "you like riddles?"

Edward grinned. "Love them," he answered.

"Well, why don't you tell me a few riddles and try to answer them?"

Edward lifted an eyebrow but shrugged. He interlocked his fingers and popped his knuckles.

"Alright… 'What word do people spell correctly but always incorrectly?'"

Samantha thought a moment and smiled when she thought of the answer. "Incorrectly. The answer is 'Incorrectly.'"

"Bravo!" Edward gave her a small applause but was quite apparent that he was enjoying this.

It went on like that for a while as they ate; he'd give a riddle, she'd answer him. Most of them she'd get right, sometimes she'd get them wrong, but most of the time, she'd answer correctly.

Both of them would have liked to keep talking but it was getting late and Gotham City was not the place to walk around at night, let alone in the day. Edward walked her to her apartment and up to her door.

"I'd like to see you again, Samantha."

"Then I guess you'd need a way to contact me, wouldn't you?"

"Yeah, how would I do that?"

"Well, there's this new invention called a telephone that people use to call each other."

"And how do they know they're called the right person?"

"They have a telephone number that no one else has."

"Really?"

"Yeah, so I guess if we want to talk to each other, we'll have to exchange numbers."

Edward chuckled. "Do you mind?" he asked.

Samantha was already writing her number down on his hand. "Just be sure to avoid water until you copy it on paper," she advised with a smile.

"Yes, ma'am," Edward laughed and said good night, walking away with a big grin on his face.

…

~Three Months Later~

Harleen walked into Arkham Asylum feeling confident even though she was fifteen minutes late for her first session with the Joker.

It had taken all those months to set this up and during that time she had been doing some hard studying of his gimmicks and felt prepared. Also during those three months, she had watched Samantha and Edward's relationship grow stronger and closer. It was good to see Samantha laughing again. She had Edward to thank for that.

A guard was waiting at the door of the room Harleen and the Joker would be having their sessions.

"Has he said anything yet?" she asked.

"No ma'am. He went in quietly, no fuss."

Harleen nodded and took a deep breath.

This was really happening. She was going to break her promise.

"I'm going to Hell," she muttered.

Harleen opened the door and briskly walked to the empty chair opposite of the Joker and sat down.

"Sorry, I'm late," she apologized as she took out a yellow notepad and pen from her brief case.

He gave a shrug. "I've got all the time in the world." He leaned back in his chair, put his feet on the table and placed his hands behind his head.

Harleen had requested that his handcuffs be removed. It had taken a lot of arguing but in the end, she won.

Harleen adjusted her glasses and poised her pen above her notepad, ready to take notes.

The Joker stared at her in silence for a few seconds. "Sooo, what do we talk about?" he finally asked.

"Anything you want."

"Well, what if I don't want to talk?"

"These sessions are meant for talking."

"How 'bout you talk and I listen, hm?"

"That's not how it goes."

The Joker gave a fake suspicious look. "I'm not sure I feel entirely comfortable talking to a doctor who I know nothing about, no matter how beautiful she is."

Harleen chose to ignore the comment.

"That's not what you said three months ago. Besides, it's against protocol to give our patients personal information about ourselves."

"Why's that?"

"Safety reasons."

The Joker quirked his eyebrows and licked his lips. "Are you afraid of little ol' me?"

Harleen looked him in the eye. "My friend warned me not to underestimate you."

"Sounds to me like you're friend's a little paranoid."

"She has a good reason."

"Oh really? Such as?"

"We're getting off the subject. This session is supposed to be about you, not my friend."

"But you just said that these sessions involve talking and that's just what I'm doing."

"That's not exactly what-,"

"Oh alright, fine. Have it your way."

Harleen sighed and rubbed her temples. "Let's start over," she suggested.

"Okay."

"We'll start with your name."

"Joker."

"No, your real name. What is your real name?"

The Joker gave a grin and chuckled. "Wouldn't you like to know…?"

"Alright then, since you refuse to tell me, I'll have to assign you to the name of Mr. J."

"I'd prefer it if I was called by the name everyone knows me by, which is my, uh, real name."

Harleen had a sassy smile on her face. "I'm sorry, but being called after a card is not your name and since you refuse to tell me any other name, you'll have to deal with being called 'J'."

The Joker sighed and looked away. "Might as well."

Harleen scribbled a note down; Refuses to tell birth name.

"Let's try something else," Harleen said. "Do you have any interests? Any hobbies?"

"Creating chaos; what about you," he asked with a big grin as he leaned forward with his elbows on the table.

Harleen wanted to bang her head on the table. She hadn't expected him to be so…so…

"Okay…Let's try talking about your sense of moral, or lack thereof."

"You think I'm the wrong one?"

"Of course. You may be unaware of it, but you have absolutely no sense of the difference between right and wrong."

He chuckled and moistened his lips. "Oh, I know the difference. Well, that is, I know what so-ci-ety's view of what's right and wrong. All these rules…who established these boundaries anyway?... Hm? Think about it… Who says that right is right and wrong is wrong? Who? It's just been assumed, because a long time ago, some self-righteous person decided to make up the rules.

'But who's to say that they were the, uh, right-ah rules? What if that person was the craaazy one and I'm the guy who figured out the hidden truth?"

Harleen tilted her head to the side, curious. "And the hidden truth being?"

The Joker lifted both hands up while his elbows remained in contact with the table's surface. He wiggled his fingers around through the air. "That everything we've been taught is wrong and that a world without rules is the only way to live. I'm not the crazy one…I just figured it out before everyone else and they refuse to believe it. Like an atheist refusing to believe there's a God."

"Do you believe there's a God, Mr. J?"

The Joker tilted his head back to look at her and licked his lips. He gave a mysterious smile and leaned back in his seat.

"Let's just say, God's been good to me. I mean, Gotham is just a peach cobbler in the morning. Don't you think? …My realization is why they put me in here, because, this is where they put the people who know the truth. People like me.

'See, I, uh, I don't live the lie that you and everyone else lives. I try to show everyone the Truth and you send me into Arkham to try to," he cleared his throat, "Cure me… The reason why you doctors fail at curing me is because there's nothing to cure! I'm sane! But noooo, you can't accept that. You can't accept that I'm sane because there just has to be something wrong with me. I'm too diff-er-ent-ah to be normal. No, no, no, no. I couldn't possibly be normal. I'm not like anyone else.

'You don't want to admit that the so called civilized people out there, are the insane ones. I keep telling Batman that, but he is sooo…set in his beliefs…but one of these days, I'll reach him. Something will finally click in that cowled head of his and he'll finally see. He'll be…just. Like. Me. Then after that, when Gotham's 'symbol' realizes the truth and quits living the façade that society has instilled in him…thousands of others will get it." The Joker chuckled and murmured,

"One by one, they'll hear my call.

Then this wicked town will follow my fall."

He paused and gazed at Harleen. "You know, you look kinda nervous doc… Relaaaax… I don't plan on hurting you."

Harleen shook herself out of her daze and cleared her throat. "Uh, plans, that reminds me…" she tried to collect her thoughts and started again. "You've told people that you have no plans, that you just do things. I find that hard to believe."

The Joker chewed on the inside of his cheek and grunted. "Looks like that's not the only thing you don't believe."

Harleen glared at him. "Don't change the subject. I find it hard to believe that you just robbed that mob bank without preparing and planning it for weeks, maybe even months, ahead. You needed to know the codes, what kind of safe you'd be up against, when the school let out, the bus schedule, and so many other details. It's impossible to accomplish all that on 'spur of the moment' impulses."

The Joker gave a cheeky grin. "Then I must have really good impulses," he said charmingly.

"There's also the way you escaped the MCU. The explosive you planted in that unfortunate thug's body-,"

The Joker let out a snicker of remembrance.

It had gone off perfectly…

Harleen lifted an eyebrow and continued. "The distraction of kidnapping Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes to lure Commissioner Gordon and Batman away so you could follow through with kidnapping Lau and escaping, all points to planning ahead."

The Joker hummed with amusement. "Hmmmmm, my, my, my, someone's been doing their homework," he said.

Harleen smiled pleasantly. "I like to know what I'm dealing with before I take on a patient," she explained.

The Joker seemed to pout in disappointment. 'Hm, for a moment there, I thought I had a fan."

"Well, you thought wrong. Do you still hold to your statement of not planning?"

The Joker was silent for a few seconds, then he leaned on the table, his eyes trained on Harleen. "How much time have you spent planning our session?" he asked.

"Do not change the subje-,"

"Come on, how much time?"

"What has that got to do-?"

"Has it even gone according to plan?"

"No, not exactly."

"Nothing ever does, sweetheart, trust me. There's always gonna be one thing that gets thrown in and upsets the established order. The wild card, as it were. It's unpredictable…it has no plans, it just is."

"You're referring to the Joker card in a deck?"

"That's right. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Reminds me of someone…" he let out a laugh, "oh yeah! Me! See, doc, that's why plans are useless. More people should act on those 'spur of the moment impulses' more often. Don't you think?"

"Then there would be more people like you."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"It's horrible."

"By what definition? It aaall goes back to those 'rules' your society follows. Why do you think I'm horrible? … Beeeecause it's what they taught you to think. Are you really thinking your own thoughts? Or are you thinking how you've been taught to think?"

Harleen stared at him in a stupor.

His words swirled in her head, making her a bit disoriented. How could someone like him be able to make the outrageous sound plausible?

She flipped through the questions she had written down to ask him and tried to choose one.

"Uh, what, uh, what turned you into this person that you are now? Can you remember what led you down this path?"

The Joker was silent. He slouched in his seat and moved his hands from behind his head to lie on his stomach, interlocking his fingers. He looked at his hands for a moment and sniffed.

Harleen watched his brown eyes move from his hands to her face. She looked away and readied her pencil to begin writing.

"Ya know, my father use to beat me up pretty badly."

Harleen looked up from her notepad with a start. She hadn't been prepared for that.

"Every time I got out of line," he swung his fist, "BAM! Or sometimes I'd be just sitting there doing nothing, POW! Pops tended to favor the grape, you see?"

Harleen quickly nodded. "Uh-huh."

He had her full attention now. "There was only one time I ever saw dad really happy. He took me to the circus when I was seven." He sighed happily at the memory. "Oh I still remember the clowns running around, dropping their pants." The Joker gave a laugh as he leaned forward and placed his hands on the table.

"My old man laughed so hard, I thought he'd bust a gut! So the very next night, I ran out to meet him with his best Sunday pants around my ankles. 'Hi, dad, look at me!' Zwoop! I took a big pratfall and tore the crotch clean out of his pants!"

Harleen tried to suppress the giggles she could feel developing but the Joker's laughter was contagious. She joined him in a laughing fit as tears began to stream down her eyes. She removed her glasses to wipe them away.

The Joker suddenly stopped laughing.

"And then he broke my nose."

Harleen gasped at the sudden change in his demeanor.

He just shrugged and leaned back in his seat with his hands behind his head. "But hey, that's the down side of comedy. You're always taking shots from folks who just don't get the joke, like my dad…or Batman," he added darkly.

Suddenly Harleen's cellphone rang and she hurriedly dug it out of her brief case and answered it. She'd forgotten that she brought it in with her.

"Hello?"

"Harley? It's me, Samantha."

"Hi-ya, Samantha."

The Joker's eyes locked onto her and gleamed.

Harleen suddenly realized that she shouldn't have said Samantha's name in front of him. But she had been so caught off guard by her call that it just slipped out! And she had used her real name too, not her nickname! Of all times for her to call, it had to be when Harleen was breaking her promise!

"How's it going over there?" Samantha asked.

Harleen noticed the Joker paying close attention to her conversation with a look in his eyes that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

"It's going great. I'm actually in the middle of a session right now."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Call me back as soon as you get the chance."

"No problem, Samantha."

Harleen winced. She just did it again!

Harley hung up and the Joker met her gaze. He slowly ran his tongue over his lips as he brought his hands down from being a head rest. "Samantha, as in, Samantha Reads?" he asked.

Harleen busied herself with her notes and he gave a sly grin. "It was," he said in a smug tone of voice.

Harleen cleared her throat. "Let's continue with our session."

The Joker shrugged.

He said nothing else about the phone call but Harleen could tell that he was thinking about it the entire time.

By the end of the session, Harleen had plenty of notes. She felt it had gone well.

The Joker was escorted back to his cell and Harleen followed along as got out her red cell phone. The Joker watched as she dialed the number.

"Hi-ya, Sammy, it's me, I can talk now…"

Her voice began to fade as she walked away. Harleen didn't notice the Joker straining to hear her and watch until she was out of sight.

He flicked his tongue over his bottom lip and sighed through his nose.

"Harleen Quinzel…you might be my ticket out of here…"

It was really funny. He remembered Harleen as the giggling teenager who had a crush on him in high school. Maybe he'd use that to his advantage, maybe he wouldn't. He didn't have a fixed idea at the moment. He didn't even have a plan. Plans never worked out; which got him thinking of the things in his past that he had not planned on. Like Samantha.

He had not planned on letting her go at the party in Bruce Wayne's penthouse, he did not plan on letting her see his face… he just did. He did not plan on…letting her get under his skin.

He suddenly recalled the promise he made her in high school, that one day he'd make her laugh.

"Smile for me, Samantha…"

He started to hum 'Sway' to himself and giggled.

Maybe he should tell Harleen one of his stories of how he got his scars. Which one would he use? The story about his father? The one about his wife? Or how about the one where he was attacked by gangsters as a child?

Maybe he should let her ask. He'd get to that later.

The Joker began to laugh softly, then louder, then long howls of laughter. He began to laugh so hard and uncontrollably that he couldn't breathe. He slid his back against the wall as he lowered himself to the floor with one arm wrapped around his middle.

This city has no idea what's in store for them….

…...